Solee Darrell was born in Bermuda, grew up in the United States, and has recently moved to Canada. She works as a jewelry designer, running her own business, Solee Darrell Jewelry. Solee tells her story of how she first went to fashion school, but skeptical of her prospects after graduation, she decided to start a new path and study Silversmithing in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico under Billy King. Back in the Bay Area, she applied to work at Crown Nine, where she learned so much about production and how to run a business as a woman, as well as had access to the tools she needed to develop her own line. All of her work is one of a kind, she grew her business through instagram, responding to what people order and request; she sells in her shop online and at a list of stockists on the west coast. Solee describes her “female-centric brand” as an opportunity for her to make tangible items of love. With each custom order, she asks the client what they are working on, and follows her intuition and knowledge of stones’ vibrational properties to pick stones and forms that are specific to the person who will wear it. Marlee and Solee discuss our current political situation, what happens when you move, the inherent self-care in having a creative practice, and the struggles of when your creative practice becomes your job.

Words of wisdom:

“In my own life, it’s so important to me to be a woman, and to have that energy around me at all times. So, I’m bringing that energy out into the world and manifesting it into an actual piece of something.”

“I’m not leaving this magical arena of the world, just because some people don’t understand it.”

“I think if every single person was taught how to make something with their hands, we would be way less upset… It’s a form of meditation”

Current Projects:

Solee is getting to know her new home better- she moved to Vancouver from Oakland last summer and is still working to find her community there. This is also her first year working entirely for herself, and she is producing new work and learning how to envision each day, then follow through.

Things to be excited about:

Being informed! Solee is currently obsessed with an app called Think Dirty, that you can use to scan products and it will tell you on a scale of one to ten how bad it is for your body and the environment.

The women’s march! The amazing world-wide gathering of women was the day before this podcast recording and she was still in a daze, but Solee wants to make a book of text messages between her and female friends, so people can see that women are having the same tough conversations and are not alone.

Reducing scroll time! Marlee and Solee related on their struggle around checking instagram way too often, and ON AIR they made a pact to reduce their use together. Try a book or a conversation instead….